


Mean old man's world

by killerweasel



Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-06
Updated: 2012-12-06
Packaged: 2017-11-20 13:10:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/585692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killerweasel/pseuds/killerweasel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One final phone call.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mean old man's world

This is for [](http://100moods.livejournal.com/profile)[**100moods**](http://100moods.livejournal.com/)

Title: Mean old man's world  
Fandom: Angel  
Characters: Lindsey McDonald, Cordelia Chase  
Prompt: 012. Broken  
Word Count: 952  
Rating: R  
Warnings/Spoilers: AU after _Dead End_ , character death  
Summary: One final phone call.

**Mean old man's world**

 

I shoved the body off of mine and found myself laughing. It wasn’t funny, none of this was even close to being funny, but my brain had debated on laughing or screaming and the laughs had won out. Little by little, the pain was starting to make itself known. Though I knew my injuries had to be worse than what I could currently feel, everything from the middle of my back down had already gone numb.

Fumbling around for a few minutes in my coat pocket, I found what I was looking for. My vision kept going unfocused, which made it difficult to punch in the numbers. _You’ve lost too much blood, Lindsey. You’re in the middle of nowhere. You’re going to die alone, just like your daddy said you would._

“Fuck off.” Great, now I was talking to myself. My eyes fluttered closed as the phone began to ring.

“Angel Investigations, we help the helpless.”

I swallowed a few times to get the taste of blood out of my throat. “Is he there?” There was silence for a moment and I had the horrible feeling that she was going to hang up on me.

“He’s out on a case. I’ll tell him you called, Lindsey.” There was irritation in her voice, like I had pulled her away from something important like doing her damn nails.

“Don’t hang up. Please.” My voice was barely above a whisper and I curled my fingers tighter around the cell. It was slippery with my blood and if I dropped it, I didn’t think I’d be able to pick it up again.

“What’s wrong?” There was less annoyance this time and more curiosity.

The laugh escaped my before I could stop it. “Wrong? Nothing’s wrong, darlin’. I’m lying here on the warm sand, too far from the side of the road for anyone to notice, and bleeding to death. Wolfram and Hart’s goons caught up with me. They totaled my truck, we fought, I won, but...” I tried to move my legs and got no response at all.

“Why didn’t you call an ambulance?”

“I’m in the middle of nowhere; they would never find me in time.” That was true. I wasn’t even sure where the road was from here.

“Oh.” I heard her suck in a breath. “What can I do?”

Closing my eyes, I worked on blocking out the pain I could feel. When it was down to a dull roar, I thought about an answer. “Lindsey?” Worry now, almost to the point of panic. She must have thought I’d died already.

“I was going to ask if Angel would do something for me, but maybe you can handle it instead.” My brain was starting to slow down. The clothing that hadn’t been shredded into nothing by talons as sharp as razors felt heavy and wet. _Can’t even run away properly, can you boy? I told you that you’d end up just like me. Not a penny to your fucking name and all alone._

Mentally telling my father to shut the fuck up, I tried to remember what I was going to have Angel do. Oh, right. “Write this down. Go to the Sunrise Bank on Fourth Street. You need to find box two-hundred and eleven. The code is four, five, nine, three. It’s full of money, I can’t remember how much. Take what you want and divide the rest into three. There should be a piece of paper inside with the addresses of my brothers and sister. Send it to them.”

A wave of pain went through me and I started to cough. In a matter of minutes, not only was my body in agony, but I could taste blood in my mouth again. Cordelia was saying my name, asking if I was okay and I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs to answer. When it finally subsided, I was clutching broken ribs with one arm.

I spat blood onto the sand beside me and looked up at the stars. “I’m not okay, I’m dying.”

Sleep sounded like a nice thing right about now. The pain was preventing it though. But if you lost enough blood, you just passed out and died, right? “Lindsey... what do you want me to do?”

“Talk to me. I’m so fucking tired. It hurts so damn much. Just talk, I’m going to rest.” I felt another coughing fit start to build up and managed to stop it.

Cordelia cleared her throat. Then she did what I asked and just started talking. I heard about what had happened in Sunnydale, the person she used to be and how she wasn’t that way any more. How she’d had more money than most before losing it all. LA was supposed to be a place for her to start over, to maybe become an actress, but things never work out the way you plan.

As I started to drift off, I got to hear about the man who had passed her the visions. He’d given his life to save countless strangers. I wondered if Angel would ever do something like that without hesitating first. Somehow I doubted that. This Doyle guy was someone Angel could never be.

The numbness was spreading, slowly moving until I couldn’t feel most of my body any more. That was nice because the pain went away with it. I murmured something to her when she’d mentioned liking the way I’d sung in Caritas. Then the phone fell from my limp fingers. As the darkness rose up to claim me, I thought I heard Cordelia saying my name. I wanted to tell her it was okay now, that everything was fine, but it was too late.


End file.
